d here I am. But I
fancy myself like the little dog--you may see him any day--which in the
beast-garden of the Panaeum, shares a cage with a royal tiger. The huge
brute puts up with a great deal from his small companion, but woe betide
the dog if the tiger once pats him with his heavy, murderous paw--and he
might, out of sheer forgetfulness!"

"But this hand," Caesar broke in, raising his delicate hand covered with
rings, "will never forget, any more than my heart, how much it owes to
you."

"Until I, in some unforeseen way--perhaps quite unconsciously--excite
your anger," sighed Melissa. "Then you will be carried away by passion,
and I shall share the common fate."

Caracalla was about to reply indignantly, but just then Adventus entered
the room, announcing the chief astrologer of the Temple of Serapis.
Caracalla refused to receive him just then, but he anxiously asked
whether he had any signs to report. The reply was in the affirmative, and
in a few minutes Caesar had in his hand a wax tablet covered with words
and figures. He studied it eagerly, and his countenance cleared; still
holding the tablets, he exclaimed to Melissa:

"You, daughter of Heron, have nothing to fear from me, you of all the
world! In some quiet hour I will explain to you how my planet yearns to
yours, and yours--that is, yourself--to mine. The gods have created us
for each other, child; I am already under your influence, but your heart
still hesitates, and I know why; it is because you distrust me."

Melissa raised her large eyes to his face in astonishment, and he went
on, pensively:

"The past must stand; it is like a scar which no water will wash out.
What have you not heard of my past? What did they feel, in their
self-conscious virtue, when they talked of my crimes? Did it ever occur
to any one, I wonder, that with the purple I assumed the sword, to
protect my empire and throne? And when I have used the blade, how eagerly
have fingers pointed at me, how gladly slanderous tongues have wagged!
Who has ever thought of asking what compulsion led me to shed blood, or
how much it cost me to do it? You, fair child--and the stars confirm
it--you were sent by fate to share the burden that oppresses me, and to
you I will ease my heart, to you I will confide all, unasked, because my
heart prompts me to do so. But first you must tell me with what tales
they taught you to hate the man to whom, as you yourself confessed, you
nevertheless felt draw